East Literature’s Jim Wilson was named Titans high school football coach of the week after leading the Eagles to a 35-7 win over Hillwood on Friday.

Hilllwood is coached by former East Lit Coach Bubba Spears. East Lit, a third-year program, is off to a 3-0 start for the second consecutive season.

Wilson was named Titans high school coach of the year in 1999 at Glencliff.

“Coach Wilson has been a great addition to our school,” East Literature Principal Steve Ball said. “He is a veteran coach and very upstanding man who demands excellence from his athletes not only on the field but also the classroom. Coach Wilson is very positive and enthusiastic with the kids, which really helps the student-athletes believe in themselves.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2010/09/13/east-lits-jim-wilson-named-titans-coach-of-week/feed/0Stepping back in time at East Lit-Hillwood gamehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2010/09/11/stepping-back-in-time-at-east-lit-hillwood-game/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2010/09/11/stepping-back-in-time-at-east-lit-hillwood-game/#commentsSat, 11 Sep 2010 05:44:22 +0000Chip Cirillohttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=1108

Hillwood players and coaches gather under a big tree before Friday night's kickoff against East Literature.

Friday night’s Hillwood-East Literature football game had a Norman Rockwell feel to it.

East Literature, a third-year program, doesn’t have its own field yet so the Eagles’ home games are played at Tennessee Preparatory School, 10 miles away in an old south Nashville neighborhood.

There aren’t any locker rooms at TPS, so the players get dressed in a gravel parking lot adjacent to the stadium.

Hillwood took shelter from a light rain under a giant tree near the stadium before the game.

East Lit principal Steve Ball couldn’t find anybody to be the public address announcer, so he did the job himself. When he went to the concession stand at halftime, a young lady from the Hillwood marching band talked me into introducing the band over the PA.

I tried to chicken out, but she insisted that she needed a man’s voice to do it. “Just read this,” she said, pointing to a script on a piece of paper. I was tempted to throw in a “Let’s get ready to rumble,” at the end, but thought better of it.

The 60-year-old scoreboard conked out a few times, but no one seemed to mind. The press box isn’t much bigger than a phone booth and about six of us were crammed in there.

There were only two chairs so our photographer sat on some blocking pads while he put his photos in the computer. Next to the pads was a bag of rugby balls that are used by a team that practices there during the week.

There’s an old basketball gym next to the stadium that looks like something you see in a 1940s or ’50s yearbook.

Dozens of East Lit students wore “Beat Bubba” t-shirts in anticipation of the first game against former Eagles Coach Bubba Spears, who now coaches Hillwood.

East Lit (3-0) rolled to a 35-7 win and you halfway expected the players to sit around drinking Coca-Colas from those antique bottles afterward. Hillwood’s school bus chugged away down Foster Avenue and a Tennessean sports writer sat alone in the old press box, typing away.

Hillwood football Coach Bubba Spears, right, directs his team during practice.

Hillwood football Coach Bubba Spears will face his former team for the first time when the Hilltoppers visit East Literature at Tennessee Preparatory School on Friday.

“The old school part is not tough. It’s going against those kids that I worked with for two years,” Spears said. “We think when we left the program it was in a lot better shape than when we took over. Like I told those kids when I left, I hope they win every game but one. So I hope they keep me at my word.”

The system certainly hasn’t been shy about recycling football coaches.

With Tuesday’s hiring of former McGavock Coach Arcentae Broome at Maplewood, four of the five vacancies that have occured since the end of the 2009 season have been filled by individuals who have previously coached in Metro.

Three — Broome, Whites Creek’s Mose Phillips (formerly at Hillwood) and Hillwood’s Bubba Spears (formerly at East Literature) were on Metro sidelines last fall. The fourth, East Lit’s Jim Wilson, came out of retirement after previously serving at Glencliff.

If the trend continues to hold, look for ex-Maplewood Coach Ralph Thompson or former Whites Creek Coach Anthony Law to complete the offseason musical chairs by sitting down at McGavock when the music stops.